Today I welcome Ryan Block, managing editor of Engadget! He shows us the Wii laptop, one of the best gaming mods I've ever seen. Then, of course, I dazzle him with yet another disco product (are there ever enough?), the Funk Fone. And you'll be dazzled blind by the Diamond Flower, a $24,000 mouse studded with, naturally, diamonds. Last but certainly not least is the Ergopod 500--a great contraption for people who need computer access while they're bedridden, but also a possible earthquake hazard. See you next week!

Ever wanted to upgrade your laptop's graphics chip? HardOCP has a great feature up today on why this initiative has stalled. Pinging unnamed, inside sources from both Nvidia and ATI, this story provides a comprehensive overview of why we can't walk into Best Buy and pick up a laptop-compatible 3D graphics card. If you're thinking "standards" right now, you're not far off.

Nintendo has announced that it's sold more than 10 million Nintendo DS and DS Lite systems in America, an average of 9 every minute since the system's United States launch in November 2004. According to Nintendo of America frontman Reggie Fils-Aime, Americans can't get enough of the DS.

"More than 5 million people joined the ranks as Nintendo DS owners in America last year alone," Fils-Aime said. "And right now, they're all saying the same thing--Give me more!'"

While I'm loathe to take any marketer at his word (No offense, Reggie), … Read more

With competing high-definition DVD standards HD DVD and Blu-ray, a clear line has been drawn in the sand. Major technology companies are beginning to line up with their support for one side or the other. But it won't necessarily be the Sonys or Microsofts of the world that determine the winner in this standards war. In the end, it may come down to an often overlooked technology influencer: the porn industry.

Adult film producers have a long history of being early adopters of new technology. When the porn industry pushed hard for VHS in the 1980s, Sony took a … Read more

Two USB HDTV tuners are grabbing headlines today. Since we've yet to be truly impressed by the image quality of any variety of TV tuner (ATI's internal TV Wonder 650 card is the best we've seen to date), we're eager to test out these two new devices.

First up: from Taiwanese manufacturer Compro, the VideoMate U2700. This USB 2.0 hybrid device pulls in over-the-air HD content in 1080i along with standard-def broadcasts. It provides all the DVR features you'd expect, and it can record your shows straight to DVD. You can also select a … Read more

Here in the CNET editorial cube farm, we're usually not too fond of receiving random, unannounced packages from tech vendors. Not that I'm afraid of anthrax or suspiciously ticking boxes. No, it's more that I prefer to be aware of the products I'm receiving to ensure that they're not being sent to me in vain--there's not a lot this San Francisco-based MP3 editor can do with a digital camera accessory except ship it to the camera editors in New York. But every once in a while, I receive an unexpected package that contains something … Read more

While browsing my RSS feeds this morning, I noticed that some particularly unusual Apple-related rumors were circulating about the series of tubes. So I decided to turn it into a game. Now, if you're a rabid Jobsian who follows all those Apple gossip blogs as though they were Us Weekly, you'll find this little quiz a cinch. But for those of you who aren't, answer this for me--Which of the following "Apple rumors" are legitimate rumors, and which ones did I just make up on the spot?

Three are real. The others are figments of … Read more

To all of you who've been craving an ultraportable MacBook: Steve Jobs hears you.

Gizmodo and a few other sources are pointing to two Apple patent applications, published today, as evidence that a smaller MacBook (or MacBook Pro) will be forthcoming. The applications describe an optical disc drive that's accessible via the bottom of a laptop and a novel "access system" for removing discs from the upside-down drive. Why put the drive on the bottom of the laptop? To clear up room for more ports along the edges of an ever-thinner-and-smaller laptop, of course.

We're … Read more

We've never been big fans of the "Robosapien," figuring that it would probably get stomped by more powerful bots if it ever got into trouble at a robo-bar. But the "Homersapien"? Now we're talking. Everyone's favorite animated dolt has been morphed into a version of Wowwee's best-selling robot, along with Spider-Man, at the London Toy Fair.

The "Spidersapien" speaks Spidey-talk and "pretends to shoot webs with 'Web-shooter' noises," according to Pocket-lint. The Homersapien, on the other hand, doesn't do much other than utter monosyllabic phrases, true to … Read more